Archive for February, 2008
€š215 million boost for Bulgarian tourism from the EU
Feb 27th
The European Union is giving €š215 million for Bulgaria, to invest in the development of tourism in the country.
An agreement has been signed by the National Tourism Board (NTB) and the National Association of Municipalities in Republic of Bulgaria to state where the EU funds would be used and when. Projects hoping to get money from the funds are still waiting for final approvals.
It‚s expected that Bulgaria will see the first implementations of the approved projects in April.
New routes to sunshine from Manchester and Leeds
Feb 27th
Those seeking a holiday in the sun will be pleased to hear that new flights have been announced from Manchester to Spain, and Leeds to Turkey.
Bmibaby has added Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon to its flight routes departing from Manchester airport. The new routes will start operating in June, Madrid and Barcelona will be served four times a week and Lisbon twice a week.
Goldtrail Holidays will increase its flight frequency to Turkey this summer from Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA). Flights to Dalaman and Bodrum will depart twice a week, and once a week to Antalaya, taking people on a holiday in Turkey.
Paper tickets will be history in less than a hundred days
Feb 27th
After four years of Simplifying the Business programme, all paper tickets for flights will be gone by June 1, 2008. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) have started their countdown to a 100% e-ticketing air travel.
“In 97 days the paper ticket gets put in a museum. On June 1, 2008 we will achieve 100% electronic ticketing,‚ said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA‚s Director General and CEO, on Monday February 25, 2008.
When IATA started its programme in 2004 only 18% of the air tickets issued around the world were e-tickets, now over 93% of tickets are electronic. Africa and Russia are the remaining problem areas where e-ticketing did not get underway as early as it did elsewhere, but IATA officials are confident that they can reach the 100% e-ticketing goal by June 1.
“E-ticketing is the flagship project of Simplifying the Business. While a paper ticket costs US$10 to process, e-ticketing reduces that cost to US$1. The industry will save over US$3 billion each year by offering the passenger a better service,‚ said Bisignani.